EBRD Managing Director for Eastern Europe and Caucasus reaffirms willingness to promote cooperation with Armenia

ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister  Karen Karapetyan received a delegation led by European Bank for  Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Managing Director for Eastern  Europe and Caucasus Francis Malige.

The press office of the Armenian Government reports that Karapetyan  praised the cooperation with the EBRD, the effectiveness of which is  clearly evidenced by the following figures: the RA-EBRD cooperation  portfolio is comprised of 153 programs, of which 56 in process, with  a total investment of EUR 1 billion contributed by the EBRD.

Highly appreciative of EBRD-supported projects in both private and  public sectors (solid waste management, improvement of water supply,  modernization of border checkpoints, etc.), Prime Minister Karapetyan  particularly welcomed the fact that 83% of Armenia's current  portfolio (? 305 million) accounted for the direct financing of the  private sector. As to the development of financial markets, Karen  Karapetyan prioritized the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding  in March, 2016 between the EBRD on the one hand, and the Ministry of  Finance and the Central Bank of Armenia, on the other.

Thankful for the words of high appreciation, Francis Malige  emphasized that the Bank is keen to expand cooperation with Armenia  and step up the amount of investment consistently. Welcoming the  Government's initiative to establish a center for strategic  initiatives in Armenia, as well as the efforts aimed at improving the  business climate and providing a competitive field, he noted that the  EBRD is ready to work closely with the Center on the joint projects,  as well as to be useful to the Government in engineering a favorable  competitive field.

Coming to the priorities of bilateral cooperation, Mr Malige  reaffirmed the Bank's readiness to proceed from the Government's  priorities in structuring the cooperation with our country in the  three main areas outlined in the strategy for Armenia, which was  approved in 2015, namely enhancement of private sector  competitiveness, development of local capital market and formation of  a self-sufficient market for public services.  As they discussed the  prospects of bilateral cooperation, the parties touched upon the  energy sector, looked at ways of amending the legal framework for  public-private sector partnership, improving the business  environment, setting up investment funds and so on.

Mr Malige also welcomed the introduction of the Extracting Industries  Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Armenia and the willingness to  submit an EITI candidacy application in 2017. Prime Minister Karen  Karapetyan said his government is open and ready for cooperation in  all possible areas. The Premier instructed the heads of the agencies  concerned to discuss with the Bank's representatives the details of  the ongoing and projected joint programs.